Real Flower Business

Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.

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Can florists write proposals without a recipe?

realflowerbusiness.com, floralpreneur, florist recipes, floral design

When should florists write recipes?

Do you figure out stem counts before a client is officially under contract?

Even with a streamlined booking process, it takes precious time and TLC to put together a wedding proposal–and I like to turn my proposals around quickly–so I don’t write recipes without a commitment from the client.

I always write recipes for my weddings…

Over the years I’ve established “starting prices” for the floral elements I make most frequently (i.e. bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces, arbors, cocktail pieces, delivery & set-up, etc.).

My starting prices, or “minimums”, provide enough breathing room in the budget to create work I’m proud to deliver to my clients, without adding up each stem before we’ve actually established a working relationship (ie. a contract & deposit to secure the date), let alone finalized the design, color palette or specific floral choices.

Pricing a proposal takes far less time when minimums are established for each line item.

Whether you itemize an initial proposal for a client or simply offer a “lump sum total” when quoting a job, your established minimums will allow you to price as needed to turn a profit without having to write out recipes on every proposal before you get the job.

Here’s my process for booking without a recipe:

  • I send an initial proposal to a client with a minimum spend requested,
  • the clients commit to working with me (ie. a signed contract & deposit),
  • within the next fews months/year, we modify our plans as needed (adjusting colors, table counts, floral varieties, etc.),
  • and then, once final decisions are made, I’ll invest the time to create custom recipes for their event.

What if you’re pricing something you’ve never made before?

For example, what if you haven’t made an elevated centerpiece?

Well, sometimes you need to do some mathematics and imagining and spacial relations-work with your ruler and a loamy dish to determine a price on something you’ll be making for the first time…

But if you set some starting prices for your work, and you know that elevated centerpieces are at least 3x the price of a low centerpiece, you’ll automatically have a starting point to work from and instead of trying to make it for “less”, you can simply present the “starting price on elevated pieces”…even though you haven’t made it yet! (and then, you can offer alternatives to the elevated designs if their vision isn’t aligning with the desired budget.)

Click to watch, Can you price without a recipe?…

If you want to join my Facebook group click here!

P.S. The wedding I talk about in this video, well, I’m happy to report that it worked out GREAT!…she ended up being an ideal client after all.

Customers should get to “yes” easily.

It’s always easier to have a pricing conversation with a client if you’re being honest & transparent.

It can be as simple as clarifying: What are your customers willing to spend? and What can you provide at that price point?

Be confident in your pricing. Because if a client walks away after you’ve already offered your best price, then they’re just not your customer! They simply couldn’t afford you.

I used to be limited in my belief about how much I could charge…

Years ago, if someone said they had a $3,000 budget, I’d say, “OK, sure, I can make that work!” I mean, I should be able to make something beautiful for $3,000, right?!…well, that depends on what the client is requesting!

Once I get some preliminary details from a client, I can introduce a starting price based on the information I’ve collected.

The client’s requested vision may be “more than the minimum”–that’s the up-side of Pinterest….we can see immediately how elaborate and lush their dream/vision is, or get a sense of how clean, focused and simple their taste may be.

Are these flowers expensive? Yes, they are.

It’s not your job to try to replicate a $450 elevated centerpiece that your customer fell in love with (on Pinterest!) for the low, low price of $150. (I’d rather make a beautiful centerpiece for $150 that’s easy for your guests to see over, instead of feeling uneasy about the “smaller scale” of an elevated piece that was cobbled together for $300 less than the inspiration photo! That’s not your job.)

I want my customers to experience value when working with me.

Charge what you’re worth and then, BE WORTH IT.

Deliver what you promise…

If the inspiration photo is “more than you’ll provide at this price”, that must be clearly stated in all of your documents. “Your inspiration photo is $450, however, we’ll make a smaller, scaled down version for $275.”

Always deliver what you promise.

Your brand is what you deliver. Don’t promise something you can’t deliver.

Never forget the trust your clients put in you/your team.

Keep doing beautiful work, floralpreneurs!

With love from me to you,

Alison

P.S. Check out my February Flash Sale HERE and SAVE $20 OFF 2 of my most popular Wedding Templates, “How To Write Proposals That Sell” and “Contracts For Florists” OR SAVE $40 off a 5-course Bundle! (offer ends 2/28 @10pm EST. click here for details.)

 

Additional Resources:

 

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Why Florists Cannot Compete On Price

realflowerbusiness.com, floral design, floristry, business of flowers

Have you ever been pressured to lower your prices in order to book a job?

Today, a floralpreneur® in my Facebook group shared that a client slashed her prices in half and re-sent the new pricing back to the florist!…..needless to say, the comments on that one made for some good reading!

As a business owner and floral artist, it’s important to recognize that you don’t want every customer. You want the customers that want YOU…and are willing to pay your for your work!

Business guru and genius marketer, Seth Godin, talks about Competing On Price as a “race to the bottom”. As Mr. Godin puts it, what do you do when you win?…ie. when you’ve succeeded and you’re “at the bottom”!

The idea of “winning” based on undercutting, is a misconception. You cannot “win” if the only reason someone picked you is because you’re cheap-er.

The real reason you don’t want to compete on price….

A florist cannot lower prices and exceed expectations at the same time!….not unless you’re giving up your profit margin.

And if you’re going to sustain your business, you must respect your profit margin.

I don’t want to win at the game of “cheapness”.

I want to win at the game of quality work and amazing customer service.

Click to watch this quick video, “Why you cannot compete on price”:

 

 

What is your goal?…

Do you want to be the cheapest?

Or do you want to be better than the cheapest?

I hope you’ll choose option #2 above!

Don’t compete on price!…so you can keep doing beautiful work!

With love from me to you,

Alison

P.S. In today’s video I mention my Flower Math course, which is designed to help florists price with confidence and maximize profit margins! (click here for details on the course!)

More FREE Tips from the Blog:

You down with O.P.P? (Other People’s Proposals) Click HERE to read.

How much should florists charge for rentals? Click HERE to read.

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Do you want to spend less time on e-mail replies?

Do you ever track how many hours you spend replying to e-mails? I had no idea how much time I’d spend in front of my computer when I started my floral design business nearly 17 years ago.

For YEARS I found myself struggling with how to tell someone I couldn’t hold their date without a deposit,…or firmly explain that I will not reduce my price,… or how to strike a balance on how “tough” to *really* get when requesting a payment that’s overdue.

The reality of modern-day customer service is this: E-mail is a critical form of client communication; it’s how they get to know you!

Your customers can’t see your facial expressions or interpret your “tone”… so it’s critical that every word you choose is meaningful and accurate.

But it takes so much time to craft the perfect reply, right?!!

It took years to hone my voice so it felt professional, authentic and clear.

So let me ask you a question…

Do your e-mails increase your authority, grow trust with your clients, and make them feel well cared for?

What if you could…

  • Feel CONFIDENT when explaining your terms to a client,
  • Forget FEARS about not being taken seriously,
  • Gain AUTHORITY as you build trust with your prompt, concise replies,
  • Make stronger CONNECTIONS so your customers can actually understand your expectations,
  • Increase the INCOME you’ll be able to generate when you state your minimums clearly so clients say YES to your next proposal, no questions asked!

Confidence. Authority. Connections. Income.

… Do you want these things in your business?

THEN START…

  • Confidently establishing your authority…

  • Boldly claiming your role as the leader your clients need you to be…

  • Seamlessly building trust with clients who “get you”…

AND STOP…

  • staring at your computer screen searching for the “right thing to say”…
  • wondering if you’ll ever hear back from a prospect…
  • feeling like your clients are in the driver’s seat….

For my wedding and event clients, I often send the same basic e-mails over and over again throughout the season, so after about 15 years in business I created 12 E-mail Templates for Florists with some of my most frequent (& sometimes tricky!) customer conversations, as well as 10 More Templates with Difficult Client Conversations Made Easy! 

Now THRU Oct. 31 at 3pm Eastern Time THEY’RE ON SALE! SAVE $20 OFF BOTH SETS OF TEMPLATES WHEN YOU BUY A BUNDLE.

Here’s what ya get in 10 E-mail Templates:

How to….

  1. Tell someone you can no longer “hold their date”.
  2. Present a proposal that’s over budget.
  3. Ask someone why they did NOT book with you.
  4. Tell someone you’re not a good fit for their event.
  5. Reply to a complaint.
  6. Bill for damaged or missing rental items after an event.
  7. Explain you won’t order flowers until full payment is received.
  8. Tell someone that their most recent changes/additions will result in a price increase.
  9. Tell someone you will not update their proposal (again) or meet (again) without a deposit.
  10. Respond when a wedding is cancelled.
And here’s what’s included in 12 E-Mail Templates:
How to…
  1. Say, Hello in an introduction e-mail.
  2. Present a minimum.
  3. Present a proposal, contract and invoice.
  4. Tell someone you’re unavailable for their date.
  5. Tell someone you will not lower your price.
  6. Follow up if you don’t hear back from a prospect.
  7. Tell someone you cannot hold their date without deposit.
  8. Confirm receipt of contract & deposit.
  9. Confirm receipt of contract, but missing deposit.
  10. Confirm receipt of deposit, but missing contract.
  11. Request final changes and final payment.
  12. Confirm receipt of final payment before event.

Plus These Bonuses:

  • 5 E-Mail Etiquette Tips
  • How To Ask For a Testimonial

Click here to grab my templates and start leveraging your e-mails to increase your confidence, authority, and income.

This is the lowest price I’ve ever offered on templates!

…so if there is even an inkling of a desire to grab these templates, jump on it right now.

I’m closing the doors on this sale at 3pm EST on Oct. 31.

Templates save you time! You can customize your own e-mail templates by modifying the language and phrasing provided in my templates. Simply create an e-mail folder for your most commonly used conversations, then, copy, paste into a new e-mail and adjust as needed to suit your client!

Florists often tell me they use these e-mail templates the same day they buy them! Copy, paste, rinse, repeat!

If you have questions for me, get in touch! floralartvt@gmail.com

xo. -Alison

 

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Are You Ready To Rise Above The Competition?

Hey Floralpreneur®,

How much do you worry about your competition?

  • Do you follow your competitors on social media and cringe when you see how “great” they’re doing?
  • Are you eager to know “who got that wedding”–the one that didn’t book with you?
  • Does jealousy or comparison creep in and undermine your confidence?

What would it look like if you could eliminate your competition?

Now, hold on…..I’m not talking about putting other local florists out of business!

Your goal should be to “stand out amongst the competition” and the surest way to do that is by being the truest, most authentic version of yourself in your business and your brand so that the right clients choose you!

online education for florists, real flower business

Oftentimes, business owners think they need to hire a branding or marketing “expert” to help attract the right clients, but that can cost tens of thousands of dollars!….really.

A “flower famous” friend of mine was quoted over $30k for a marketing expert to help her with her floral business….now, what florist has that kind of money lying around? Not many, that’s for sure.

So if you’re working on a limited budget, what are your options? How do you gain brand recognition and attract the right clients?

The answer?….there are many ways to develop your brand and improve your marketing efforts and you can do it yourself if you’re willing to dig deep and do the work.

You don’t have to be a marketing expert to have a good brand and stand out amongst your competition….but you do need to do some “brand exploration” to get to the heart of what makes your brand special so that the right customers continue to choose you over someone else!

This is the work we do in my course, The Art of Good Business! And for students who are enrolled in The Art of Good Business before Oct. 22nd you’re getting a bonus!

I’m hosting a BONUS 4th Quarter Biz Planning Jam Session to help jumpstart you end-of-year plans and THEN I’m going to walk through the entire course with you, LIVE IN JANUARY in our private Facebook group.

This biz jam session is happening Oct. 22-26th and if you want in, you can apply for a free scholarship HERE ($1,000 value) or click HERE to sign up for the course today!

If you’re a floral designer who….

  • Writes your own website copy & social media posts
  • Manages your marketing & branding strategy
  • Struggles with “selling yourself” sometimes
  • Still spends too much time with clients who aren’t a good fit
  • Wonders if you even have a brand yet…

Then The Art of Good Business was made for you!

So if you’re ready to zero-in on your ideal clients and move your marketing efforts to the next level, keep reading for more info or click here to sign up!

real flower business

In The Art of Good Business you’ll learn how to focus your marketing efforts and take your website from beautiful to functional by honing the voice of your brand so that you can prequalify leads and attract more clients that love you.

Who’ll benefit the most from The Art of Good Business?

Business owners at any level will gain tremendous insight from the course,

however, if you’ve been in business for 5 years or more and want to refine a clearer branding message to attract better clients, you’ll have the most to gain from the lessons inside the course.

For people who are enrolled in the course, I’ll be leading a power planning session in October(to put some foundational plans in motion!)…and then I’m going to jump in with more live coaching for the entire month of January in our private group–like a bootcamp for boot strapping biz owners….it’s gonna be good.

Once you sign up, you’re invested in me, so I want to make sure you know that I’m invested right back….because I am totally invested in your success! (You can read real florists’ reviews of my course here!)

This course is not:

  • a memoir,
  • it’s not a “quick fix”,
  • it’s not about budgeting or numbers,
  • it’s not a mash-up of my “all my other courses”,
  • and it’s definitely not for everyone.

Don’t sign up if you’re not willing to get out of your comfort zone and “do work”.
You’ll have to take action to get results.

I’ll be there to help push you over the finish line, but you have to take the first step to get started (read more)!

“I just booked my biggest gig yet, by $3k…

I just have to say this course, Alison’s content works!…my ideal client is more clearly defined, I’ve mostly reworked my web copy, have been better about blogging, and more intentional about how I talk to my followers on social media posts.” -Jessica Ormond

 

More from Alison:

It doesn’t matter if you’ve been in business for 3 years, 3 minutes or 3 decades…nothing defines your brand more than the experience you create for your customers.

The most important thing I’ve done for my floral design business over the past 15 years is work towards perfecting a customer service experience that reflects the values of my brand and speaks directly to the heart of my ideal clients.

I’m not a traditional “branding expert”, but I have studied and practiced (and practiced) my own approach to branding since I started my business in 2001.  It’s said to take 10,000 hours of “deliberate practice” to achieve mastery in a field. I’ve easily exceeded that quota as I’ve worked on mastering my brand.

I began my career in the floral industry over 24 years ago, and I’ve been practicing and developing the voice of my brand in order to lead with integrity and attract my ideal clients ever since. (And I’m practicing still….)

Join me on a brand building journey to help you hone your voice.

Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have: info@floralartvt.com

With love from me to you,

Alison

floral design business courses, floristry, floral design, Alison Ellis

Definition of Eliminate: (Verb)

a: to put an end to or get rid of : REMOVE; eliminate errors in your marketing efforts

b: to remove from consideration; eliminate worries about your competition

You can get a sample preview of the course HERE.

“Making money is art…

and working is art…

and good business is the best art.”

-Andy Warhol

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Why you don’t want to book every customer

When you’re the boss in your business, you don’t want to book every customer! You only want to book the right customers.

When I was first starting out in my business, I thought the goal was to book every client….no matter what!

  • Lower the price on a few things to meet the budget?… Sure.
  • Meet at a super inconvenient time for me?… You bet!
  • Schedule a second call to go over “all the things” before you decide to work with me? Um, OK!

Whatever reassurance a customer needed to be persuaded that I was the right florist for the job, that’s what I’d do!

But over time, with experience and concerted efforts to understand who my ideal customers actually are, I’ve come to realize that I don’t want to book every customer!….not by a long shot.

Who’s “the right customer”?…

Well, it’s someone who doesn’t need to be convinced that I’m the right choice because she can already feel that I’m the right choice from the preliminary experience she had with my company and my brand (via my website and e-mail communication).

By tapping into who my clients really are and what they really care about, I’m able to reach them on a deeper level and develop a level of trust before we even speak and that means that “the right clients” get to “yes” more easily.

I’ve learned to let go of the clients who aren’t an easy fit. I only want to book the right customers for me.

I’ve streamlined my proposal process so that I’m not “giving away too many details”, yet I still provide enough detail that a client can trust that we’re on the same page…

And I clearly communicate the steps in our booking process, so neither one of us invests too much time before we’ve decided we’re a good match.

I share exactly how I’ve perfected this process over the past 16 years in my templates for florists!

My downloadable pdfs, How To Write Proposals That Sell  and Wedding Workflow show you how to spend less time before booking a client and how to lay out the steps for clients from the initial inquiry to post-wedding day follow-up! Combine them with my E-Mail Templates and Wedding Contract, you’ll have my entire communication package, plus you’ll save $30 off when you buy all 5 templates here.

real flower business, courses for florists, business coaching for florists

“Alison’s email templates are an absolute life saver!

The email templates have taken off so much stress…just copy + paste, tweak a bit to customize with your own personality, and hit send. Client responses to the email templates I’ve used have been positive…the message is clear, and the tone is professional + kind. Absolutely worth the price in time saved!!” -Bethany

It takes a lot of work to learn how to speak directly to the heart of your ideal clients.

It may not happen over night, but with time and practice, the booking process starts to take shape and you’ll be able to prequalify clients before investing too much time.

You can find all my downloadable pdfs here!

Keep doing beautiful work!

With love from me to you,

Alison

P.S. If you have questions for me, don’t hesitate to drop me a line right here: floralartvt@gmail.com